Fantasy Epic Part I
by Counternet
Summary: Hammilcar, Son of Barca, Son of Ba'al, son of Belial is visited by a Seer named Theresa, who tells him he is needed to help a Hero, Edward, defeat Lucien. Part I deals exclusively with Fable II and the rise of the Hero King. Later parts will follow the progeny of Hammilcar on several different continents such as Middle Earth and Tamriel. For now, enjoy this revision of Fable II.
1. Chapter 1

The sun rose as Hammilcar, son of Barca, son of Ba'al, son of Belial, rode his horse, Thunderbolt, around the property he spent nine years building. He lived in Rookridge, a mountainous region filled with rocky soil and violent weather. It was a wonder his farm had managed to grow so large. 5 acres of farmland alternated between hay and corn and wheat every year. But that wasn't the end of Hammilcar's business. He had operated a mine for the last four years, logged timber for three, and had planted apple and cherry orchards along the northern ends. Although none of these exploits had yet yielded any profit, he was confident they would.

That is, if Lucien didn't discover him first. Or, more accurately, if Lucien didn't decided to come and eliminate him first. While Lucien had little power outside of Bowerstone, he still was the only power in Albion, and therefore its king by default, although he wasn't arrogant enough to claim that title.

Hammilcar despised Lucien. He knew what Lucien was up to, knew the consequences if Lucien succeeded, but Hammilcar was not a Hero.

Only a Hero could defeat Lucien, and Hammilcar had tried to find one for years. But when he did finally find one, the results were unanticipated. He had learned that only four Hero's existed, one of Strength, one of Skill, one of Will, and one who had mastered all three. It was only the latter who could defeat Lucien, and only with a supporting cast of the other three. But this fourth Hero had disappeared into the Spire, the stronghold of Lucien's army, and the key piece of Lucien's plot. Hannah, the Hero of Strength, the one he had found, promised to tell him when Edward, the missing Hero, returned. That had been nine years ago.

As Hammilcar completed his daily round of the property, and entered his house, he was startled to find a woman in his home.

"Who are you?" he growled. The woman was wearing a red dress, trimmed in white, with a hood covering her face. She wore authority like a cloak and her bearing said she expected to be obeyed.

"I am Theresa" she said, and added "You asked for me to come."

"I've never seen you before" exclaimed Hammilcar. His sword was behind the woman, and while she was between him and it, unless he could get to his musket, over the mantle, which was left of the seated woman.

"No, but I've seen you. I was there the night you saw Rose fall from the castle window."

"I don't know what you are talking about" Hammilcar responded, although anyone who knew what to look for could tell it was a lie. His voice had changed pitch, he began to sweat, and his face carried a look of complete shock.

"All your life you wanted to be noticed by Lord Lucien," the woman began. "He gave you a box, one day, and told you if you made it disappear he would take you to live with him in the castle. When you couldn't, you gave it to a merchant, who sold it to a little girl and her brother, who she called Little Sparrow. I guess 'little' is a relative term, as they were both older than you. They made the box disappear and Lucien came for them, as he promised he would. And then he shot them. You felt guilty, you felt it should have been you. And so you've spent the last 19 years looking for a way to destroy Lucien. To avenge the kids."

Hammilcar had gotten to the mantle, retrieved the gun, and now stood behind the woman. She hadn't reacted to him taking the rifle, and he assumed she had nerves of steel. As he pulled back the hammer of the musket with his thumb, she finally reacted.

"You're not going to shoot an old, blind woman in the back, are you?"

"How do you know all this?" he asked.

"As I told you, as was there. I rescued the boy."

"Rescued is a strong word of buried."

"The boy survived the fall."

"No man could survive that fall."

"No, but that young boy was a Hero. That's why the box responded to him. It's why he and Rose where shot. He is the only one who can stop Lucien."

"Why are you here?" demanded Hammilcar. "Why are you telling me this?"

"He needs your help."

"How can I help him? Only he can stop Lucien."

"Lucien is not the real evil this world faces."

"Then what is?"

"I don't know. And you never will either."

"I don't understand." Hammilcar exclaimed.

"An heir of your combined blood lines is the only thing that can stop the coming darkness. I don't know how this will come about, nor do I know how many generations from now this final battle between light and dark will take place, but this is what I do know: After you help him defeat Lucien, he will ask to give you a reward, and you must ask to become Lord of Rookridge. Fate is placing us in the positions we must take for a final victory. Go, William and Hannah await you in Westcliff. Go!


	2. Chapter 2

Westcliff was a town run by the poor, all but lawless, and not the place where Hammilcar was expecting to find a Hero. Maybe it was a good thing Edward was here, though, because he wasn't hard to locate.

Edward was sitting at a table in the town inn, although it also appeared to be a brothel, with Hannah, who was now, Theresa had told him, going by the name Hammer. Rumor had it she had made a quite a name for herself with that hammer she carried and she had become a thorn in Lucien's side. Next to her was the man Hammilcar guessed was Garth, the Hero of Will, who was considerably older than both of them, and had been rescued by Edward after ten years in the Spire. Across from them was Edward, the Hero, who was not a master of Strength, Skill, or Will, but was very skilled with all three. He was tall and broad, with matted brown hair, a sharp nose, and clear blue eyes. His forearms rippled with muscle, and he had a quiet strength, as well as an heir of wisdom one seldom found in a man not yet 30.

All eyes turned to Hammilcar as he took a seat at the table. He felt somewhat uncomfortable as they examined him, but he fully understood why they felt the need to scrutinize him. Trust was a luxury they couldn't afford to strangers. It had to be earned.

"Why does the prophetess send us this useless sidekick?" demanded Garth. "We need no such individual."

"Garth", Hammer declared. "You haven't offered any proof you're worth the trouble it took to get you out of that Spire, yet we don't criticize you."

"Garth is a Hero, though" interjected Edward. "Our new friend here is not."

"This man came looking for you" Hannah retorted. "While you were in the Spire, he found me, and said he wanted to help you."

"And when you told him where I was, he left, and then got rich while I toiled in that hell." Seeing Hammilcar's mouth open with rebuttal he added, "Don't worry, I would have done the same thing. But you do intrigue me. Did Theresa tell you anything about why you are you here? What can you do to help defeat Lucien?

"I don't think I have anything you need in the fight against Lucien." Hammilcar said. He continued quickly when he saw Garth's mouth open with what could only have been a remark about his own foresight. "But Theresa said Lucien is not the real enemy; the coming darkness is much worse than anything Lucien could do. She said after we kill Lucien, when you become king and offer a reward, I must ask to become Lord of Rookridge. She said only a child of our combined bloodlines could stop the coming darkness."

"Interesting," mused Edward. "I look forward to seeing how this turns out. But why did you agree to this? Why did you agree to stake everything on what could very well be a doomed venture?

"For the same reason you did, I believe."

"Lucien stole someone from you, too."

"I am the reason someone is dead. While there is no way I could have known what events my action set into motion, it resulted in the murder of a young girl by Lucien, and I blame myself. I will avenge her."

"I'm convinced." Edward said. "We were discussing how to get to Bloodstone to find Reaver. As of now the plan is to go to Garth's tower in Brightwood and to use his device to teleport to Bloodstone."

"You want to cross, more or less, the entire Continent of Albion to get to his tower? You might as well travel to Bloodstone on foot. It would take about half-again as long but there would be less chance of something going horribly wrong. Or, what we could do is recognize Lucien is at the Spire, not Bowerstone. If we travel to Bowerstone, hire a ship to Bloodstone, and sail, we would be there more than a week before we would be if we traveled all the way to Brightwood.

"You think that my teleportation is less safe than a ferry on the open sea?" Garth exclaimed. "What do you take me for, some second rate magician who does party tricks? I'm the Hero of Will."

"I never said your teleporting was unsafe. If we travel to Brightwood, we have to cross through the Bandit Coast, as well as Great Wood, which are both dangerous places." Now Edward spoke up.

"Garth will go to his tower, and collect anything we might need for the final battle with Lucien. Hammer I want you to go somewhere to the North, and draw Lucien's attention. Preferably, you should do something that makes absolutely no sense in regard to assembling the Heroes. I will go with our new friend, by ferry, to Bloodstone. We will find Reaver, and we will all meet back at the Hero's Guild in 3 months."

"But Edward" Garth began. "My tower makes so much more sense. It is away from Lucien, less dangerous, no matter what this fool claims, and I can guarantee your arrival in Bloodstone."

"You are right, Garth." Edward replied. "But that is what Lucien would expect. If I was him, I would never expect to have to guard Bowerstone against my enemy. Not when my opponent's ultimate goal is the Tattered Spire, and he has a tower that can teleport him there. I would never expect my opponent, who has access to a teleportation device, to take a boat."

"But why not use our advantages? There are so few of them. Only a fool plays against his own strengths."

"Yes. But by trying to devise a fool-proof plan, we may completely overlook the ingenuity of complete fools. I am willing to roll the dice on this one. It's about time for me to get a lucky roll." Edward turned to look at Hammilcar. "Then again, I may have already gotten one."

He rose, as did all at the table, left the brothel, and the party vanished into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

Terror enveloped the trio. Shadows raced around them as Edward and Hammilcar stood, back to back, save for the woman between them. Reever had betrayed them. A shadow darted underneath Hammilcar's thrust, leaving a long gash on his stomach. But as the shadow attempted to strike again, Hammilcar decapitated it.

Behind him, Edward fell, and only the discharge of his pistol kept the shadows from pouncing on him and consuming his youth. Using the power of his Will, Edward created a ring of blades around the trio, launching them outward into the shadows. No one had ever escaped the Shadow Court. Reever would pay for this.

One week ago the pair had arrived in Bloodstone. It was the most lawless town either had ever seen. Prostitutes lay on every street corner, drunker sailors wandered around even the richer parts of town, and the thieves and footpads lay in wait in every alley, and sometimes even on major roads. But as opposed to Westcliff, which had no form of government, this was the behavior encouraged by the ruler of Bloodstone.

As they awaited an audience with Reever, Barnum, Edward's friend from childhood was there to take a portrait of Reever with his camera, a relatively new invention. Hammilcar, and Edward too, wanted nothing more than to bury Reever in an unmarked grave, but he was the Hero of Skill, and therefore was indispensable, as despicable as he was.

Tales or Reever's barbarism had spread throughout Albion. Edward and Hammilcar had discussed many possible ways to explain the urgency of their mission and provide Reever with incentive to help. Reever would never join for altruistic reasons and they had settled on the practical approach.

"Lucien knows he can only be stopped by the Heroes." Edward had told him. "Therefore he is hunting them. Us. He will find you. It isn't exactly hard to do. He will kill you. Death catches most men by surprise. You are lucky enough to have a clear choice before you. Fight with us and live. Stand alone or die."

"I will join you if you first do one thing for me" Reever had replied. "Return this seal to the Temple where I found it. I must make certain preparations to depart, and your acquiescence to my request means I can see to them immediately."' Both Edward and Hammilcar were suspicious but they agreed. They needed Reever. And as much as Reever needed them, he didn't believe he did, so their bargaining chip was worthless.

When they had reached the temple they discovered quickly Reever had tricked them into entering the Shadow Court. He had struck a deal with the Court long ago to send them victims carrying a seal. The victims would have their youth drained Reever's was sustained. In this way, he had managed to have the appearance and physical prowess of a 20 year old, even though he was almost 50.

The Court had demanded one of them stay behind, Edward had quickly attacked them. Now the pair were fighting for their lives against an army of shadows.

Hammilcar and Edward were both fatiguing. Neither one was a young man any longer and they had been fighting for what seemed multiple eternities though Hammilcar guessed it had been only close to an hour. Their swords were slowing as their arms fatigued and the shadows began landing more hits on the pair.

"Run" Edward yelled at the woman, another intended victim of Reever's who had wandered in the Court just as they had. As the woman tore away, some of the shadows raced after her. As she began to distance herself from Hammilcar, the shadows stopped attacking him. The attacks on Edward, however, never weakened in intensity. Hammilcar tried to figure out why the assault on him had stopped, but was confounded, until the answer literally dropped into place. The in the woman's panicked flight, the seal had dropped loose. As it clattered onto the ground, the court howled. At first nothing changed, but once the woman had distanced herself about 100 feet from the dropped seal, the shadows could go no further. That was why the Shadows weren't attacking him. Although was within 100 feet of Edward, he wasn't carrying a seal that marked him as a victim.

"Edward" he yelled, "Throw me the seal." Edward too several seconds to comply with this demand, as the shadows were still swarming him, but once Edward had thrown it, the Shadows almost instantaneously ceased their assault and rushed Hammilcar.

Catching it in midair, Hammilcar slung it like a Frisbee and it soared away from the door.

"Run" he yelled, as he darted for the door. As the distance between the two and the thrown seal grew greater, the Shadows grew weaker, until they vanished all together.

"I believe Reeve tried to kill us" Edward said. "He is going to pay dearly for this mistake."

One week later the pair entered Reever's mansion. Brushing past the butler they entered the audience chamber unannounced. Surprise hadn't even registered on Reever's face when Edward shot him in the shoulder. Reever tried to draw his pistol with his other arm, but Hammilcar was faster, striking him in the breastbone with an open palm. Reever fell flat on his back, and Hammilcar stepped on his good arm, pinning the hand holding his pistol still in the holster.

"You've made a very grave mistake. Now you are coming with us."

As he spoke, cannon fire started to fall in Bloodstone.


End file.
